On one of my trips over to Summer Day Camp this year, I popped my head into the Art Room as the seven and eight year olds were busily creating masterpieces. They had just finished up decorating t-shirts for an upcoming field trip (great idea, no? A fun art project with the practical application of helping staff members keep track of a horde of kids) and were coloring posters.
If you're exceptionally good at reading upside down, you'll notice that the poster our young artist is working on says Talking Through the Tuff Stuff. All the kids in the room were coloring that same poster. Why, you might ask? Is it a new movie? A book? An edgy new song?
Actually, Talking Through the Tuff Stuff was the theme of the 2008 Summer Day Camp. Every year, Camp has a theme with ethical and moral implications. Last year it was God is Good. All of the Camp activities then center around this theme, with the culmination being the End of Camp Production with music, dance, and drama presentations on the theme.
As we try to do in all our CY programs, our staff drew this year's theme from the reality of our kids' lives. It's been a tough few months, even by the standards of our community. There has been an upsurge in community violence, including several shootings that have directly impacted many of the kids in our programs.
And even without community tragedies, these kids face a lot of tough stuff. Dysfunctional families. Wide-spread abuse of drugs and alcohol. Pressure to join gangs. Poverty. The goal of Camp this year was to help the kids of all ages cope with the tough things in their lives.
It's a heavy topic, but as always, our staff managed to present it to our kids with grace, humor, and fun. Just look at those smiles.
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